Loving Mother
by Dragoon-Yue
Summary: A mother watches her child and wonders.


**A/N:** This is just an idea that has been plaguing me for a few years; I couldn't figure out how to express it until about a week or two ago.

Hope you enjoy.

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Minamino Shiori discreetly watched her eldest son through the kitchen window as he stood in the backyard. She wasn't surprised when he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt and walked over to his little garden patch. She was relieved to see that he had no new injuries this time. Shiori knew that he tried to keep her from finding out about them, but she still did anyway. 

The garden was something he had started when he was just barely old enough to walk. That had been her first big clue on how different he was from anyone else. There had been many, smaller, such clues before and since. But her first true clue had been, by far, his ancient, far-to-observant eyes. He had disturbed many people – including his father – over the course of his seventeen years, but never her. Perhaps it was because she herself was so different from everyone else, or maybe it was just a mother's love.

She didn't know and, she supposed, it didn't really matter. She knew what he was. She had always known. He was her son and she would always protect him; the scars on the back of her hands were proof of that.

Shiori knew part of her protectiveness stemmed from more than the fact that he had come from her. It was the nightmares. The nightmares of a black shadow destroying everything and everyone she held dear. Seeing her daughter dead beside her prince as the red haired witch-queen gloated. In her nightmare Shiori was powerless to save her loved ones. Her child.

But it was just a nightmare, right?

She'd been plagued by it for as long as she could remember. She didn't know what she would do if she ever had a daughter. Shiori tried to push the thoughts aside as she watched her red-haired son weed his garden. As if finally sensing his mother's eyes on him he straightened and turned slightly to look at her over his shoulder, offering her a brief, genuine smile. It was as serene as always. His smile had not always been like that. There was a time when it had been as cold as arctic waters.

Yet another clue to how different he was.

She smiled back and he returned to weeding his small garden. Shiori, once Queen Serenity of the White Moon and ruler of the Silver Millennium, was now a Human housewife doing dishes as she watched her elder son through the window. She was pretty as a Human and had a certain grace in her movements that most noticed and appreciated. But she was not the tall, elegant beauty she had once been.

That would not have mattered to her though had she believed what she remembered; she had never been a vain woman.

As Shiori watched Shuich while he worked she noticed his shadow stretching out beside him. And for one moment it seemed to be too big, have pointed ears on top of it's head and a tail. But only for a moment. Shiori had since become used to such things and accepted them as a matter of course.

She knew what he was.

Apparently done with his garden her son stood up and dusted his hands off to dislodge them of any loose dirt and debris before turning and heading for the kitchen door that led to the backyard. He opened it and stepped in. Smiling, he held up his dirty hands and – in his ever polite way – asked if he could wash his hands in the kitchen sink. She smiled and adjusted the water she'd had running to rinse the dishes of soapy water until it was warmer. Shuichi walked over and waited, then put his hands under the flow. When he pulled them back out she put a little soap on them and he washed them clean of the dirt. As always he was meticulous.

She kept watching him.

After awhile he paused and looked over at her.

"Mother, is something the matter?"

That, she knew, was his polite way of asking her why she was staring at him.

Shiori shook her head.

"It's nothing to worry about." She told him.

Shiori watched his expression change slightly and she knew that he didn't fully believe her. And for a moment she saw flecks of gold in his perfect, pure emerald eyes. And then they were gone and he was back to washing his hands, a slight frown on his face and a little more vigour in what he was doing. She hated to upset him, but how was she to explain it to him? No, he would only worry about her, so she kept her own counsel and waited for him to finish.

When he was done she got the kitchen towel off of one of the counters and handed it to him. He dried his hands, his body language and expression saying that he was displeased, possibly even angry. He didn't like it when the people he cared about lied to him, and evidently he thought that she was lying to him.

He handed the towel back to her with a, "Than-you." and headed for the livingroom.

"Shuich."

He paused at the doorway, but didn't turn around.

"It really is nothing, son. I was only remembering some of the odder things that I've noticed about you over the years."

Now he turned to look at her and gave his mother a genuine smile, though his eyes were strangely guarded.

"Oh? Like what?"

"Well... Right now your eyes have gold in them." Those very same emerald orbs went wide with surprise and shock, "There are other times when your shadow looks strange in ways it shouldn't." He went rigid, "And there are many other things that I notice, most of them I couldn't name, though they're there."

Shiori walked over to her rigid son and turned him to face her fully. She couldn't read his gold-flecked green eyes as he stared at him. Surprise registered in his features though as she placed a hand on either side of his face.

"I now what you are."

She had never seen such a look of pure shock – and was that fear? – before on anyone's face. And his eyes had turned completely gold.

"You are my son," A different kind of shock now and something unreadable, "And you always will be."

His eyes returned to being fully emerald and watered, though no tears came. After only a moments hesitation he wrapped her in a hug that was going to leave bruises. Why had that one sentence scared him so much? And why was her son so strong? He had always been exceptionally aware of his own body. He would have to be extraordinarily strong to not realize how hard he was hugging her.

"You have your secrets," She said to him quietly, somewhow managing to keep the pain out of her voice "And I will leave them to you until you feel ready to talk to me about them."

He squeezed her a little tighter. She grimaced and he abruptly let her go.

"I'm sorry." He said, guilt on his face, "I didn't mean to hurt you." She tried to say that it was alright, but he was already rummaging through that one cupboard she had set aside for his herbs a few years ago. No doubt he was looking for something to heal her bruises. Whatever he was growing in that garden of his worked miracles on almost anything. Except for whatever had hospitalized her nearly two years ago.

And that reminded her.

"Shuichi."

"Yes?"

"Your birthday is next week and you still haven't told me what you want to do to celebrate it."

He paused and seemed to think for a moment, then smiled and said, "I think I'd just like to spend the day with the family. Maybe get some takeout."

Shuichi went back to rummaging through his cupboard and a moment later came out with a hinge-toped jar of green paste. He had her sit at the dinner table and made her lift her shirt from her back to let him apply the ointment. She winced at the touch of his careful fingers. As he gently applied the ointment to her back he asked her again if something was bothering her. She sighed.

"Why do you think that something is bothering me Shuichi?" She asked.

He hesitated and paused, then went back to gently rubbing the green past in.

"You... Give off little signs that tell me what you're feeling."

"I see... I can't think of anything that might be bothering me..."

"Perhaps it's something that you thought you had dismissed."

Shiori quietly considered her son's words carefully for a prolonged period. He finished with her back. She lowered her shirt and he set the jar on the table next to her. Shuichi lifted the loose, elbow-length sleeve of her button-down shirt and Shiori grabbed it to hold it up. He took the jar again, dabbed two fingers in the ointment and set the jar on the floor. He went about applying the paste to the bruises he had left on her arms. She kept thinking. He finished with the one arm and moved to the other.

The only thing that she could think of was the nightmares.

"Mother?"

She glanced down to see her son's worried face staring up at her.

"It might be... A nightmare that I've had every night for as long as I can recall."

He regarded her for several moments, then went back to what he was doing. After several quiet minutes he finally finished. As he rose and closed the jar she lowered her shirt sleeve.

"I now a tea that might help."

He knew a tea...? Where did he learn these things?

"Thank-you." She said instead of voicing her thoughts.

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That night he gave her a tea a few minutes before she went to bed. Shiori was asleep before she had even finished her cup. Her husband went to wake her up, but his red-haired step son stopped him and picked his mother up bridal-style. The older man stared in surprise for a moment and then asked after his step-son, "Are you going to be able to get her up the stairs?"

Shuichi's answer was a simple "Yes."

His younger brother, who had the same name as him, had always thought that his elder brother was cool and now he thought that he was even cooler to be able to carry their mother up the stairs like she weighed nothing at all.

Their father followed after the elder Shuichi and when they came to the master bedroom he opened the door for his son who walked in and then over to the bed where he placed his mother.

"What kind of tea did you give her Shuichi?" The older man asked.

The younger of the two boys stood in the door way watching and listening.

"Just a tea to help with her nightmares."

Shiori's husband glanced down at her and stared for several moments before looking back at his step son and thanking him. He had been getting increasingly worried about his wife and was glad that she might get some relief from her nightmares; Shiori always woke up crying because of them.

Both Shuichis and their father left, each having something to do before going to bed themselves.

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Shiori slept without nightmares for the first time in her memory. To her it felt strangely familiar. Not surprisingly she woke much earlier than was otherwise normal for her. She wasn't sure what to do with herself, but got out of bed anyway. Curious about what the world looked like at this hour of the morning Shiori went over to her window and peeked out. She saw her elder son practising... Was that martial arts?

She remembered when he had first come home covered in bruises and had explained them all away as him tripping down a flight of stairs. If he had been any other child she probably would have believed him – and been very glad that he hadn't needed stitches even as she took him to the hospital to be checked over – but he had never fallen over in his life, not even when he had first started walking. Which had really freaked his father out, much to Shiori's amusment. After a couple more such incidents of him coming home injured she had made him start taking martial arts lessons. He had been reluctant at first, and then, after awhile, he had started practising almost religiously. But that had been a few years ago. It seemed that contrary to outward appearances he still practised. It was both reassuring and concerning.

Reassuring because it meant that he wouldn't be unable to defend himself, and concerning because it meant that the injuries he sometimes came home with were from fighting. It was hard to think of her son getting into a fight with anyone.

Shiori sighed and smiled.

He would tell her one day. When he was ready; she trusted him. Though she was still worried.

_At least he's never come home with a serious injury_. She consoled herself, unaware of the falsity of that beliefe.

And perhaps that was for the best.

She also consoled herself that at least now she had two questions answered; she now knew why he was so strong and she also now knew where his occasional injuries were coming from.

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Minamino Shuichi, also known as Youko Kurama to anyone who knew that he had once been a kitsune thief in a past life, glanced up at the window his mother had just vacated and wondered if she would start asking questions. He had always found his mother a bit difficult to predict at times so he decided to that he would deal with any questions she had when and **if** she asked any. But, again, she was difficult to predict sometimes so he wasn't sure if she would ask.

Mentally shrugging it off he debated continuing to practice, but decided to go inside and keep his mother -- who's shawdow he coukd now see silohetted on the kitchen window curtains. One thing he could predict about his mother was that she would tell him that he didn't need to come back in on her account.

He stepped in through the kitchen door and was proven right.

Kurama couldn't help but smile.

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**A/N:** For those of you wondering, Kurama has that cupboard specifically for when he needs to use his herbs on his family. 

So what did you guys think of it?

P.S. The series that I crossed over with SailorMoon was YuYuHakusho for anyone who doesn't know. When I was uploading this I didn't get the option of putting this under "SailorMoon crossovers". No idea why...

P.P.S. Because my mother is insistent that I do this... My site url is www. akberry .com (just take the spaces out).


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